Hera, or Empathy

by William Leiss

Published 1 March 2006
"Hera, or Empathy" is the first book of the Herasaga, a three book-cycle about the lives of twelve sisters who are genetically engineered to have increased cognitive abilities. As teenagers, the sisters are forced to flee for their lives from the remote Indonesian village where they were born. Growing in maturity and independence through the experience, Hera, the eldest and acknowledged leader of the sisters, challenges her father's right to have engineered his children, basing her argument on the Biblical story of creation. Until one day she discovers that the sisters' genes contain modifications that their father never intended...A dialogue in the Socratic tradition, a tribute to Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", "Hera, or Empathy" will enchant fans of science fiction and science research alike.

The Priesthood of Science

by William Leiss

Published 1 January 2008
The global political situation is increasingly volatile, and Hera and her sisters are sealed off from the rest of the world in southern Nevada. She is still tormented by her parents' decision to genetically modify the brains of their twelve daughters - and by her own agreement to allow a similar procedure to be used on a much larger group of human embryos. That group of engineered embryos has become one thousand young people just turning eighteen, and the gender politics among them is threatening to ruin Hera's gamble on a new beginning for human society. "The Priesthood of Science" envisions a future in which scientific research is confined to facilities hidden away from public view and where there is a prohibition against turning scientific discoveries into new technologies in order to keep a world torn apart by religious fanaticism and ethnic hatred under control.